Russian shelling kills 5 civilians in Ukraine

Heavy fighting rages in towns and cities in the east and south.

KYIV, Ukraine — Fighting remained largely deadlocked Monday in eastern Ukraine, where Russian shelling killed five civilians over the last day, according to Ukrainian officials, as the warring sides sized up their needs for renewed military pushes expected in coming weeks.

The casualties included a woman who was killed and three other people who were wounded by Russian shelling of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, in the country’s northeast, according to regional Gov. Oleh Sinegubov.

Moscow’s troops seized large areas of the Kharkiv region in the months following its invasion of Ukraine in February. But Ukrainian counteroffensives that began in August snatched back Russianoccupied territory, including in Kharkiv.

Those successes lent weight to Ukraine’s arguments that its troops could deliver more stinging defeats to Russia if its Western allies provided more weaponry.

Kyiv last week won promises of tanks from the U.S. and Germany to help its war effort.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Monday hinted at the prospect of more pledges, saying that “any activity aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s defense powers is under consultation with our NATO partners.”

Such a move could encounter some familiar political obstacles, however.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, after demurring for weeks over sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, looks set to dig in his heels over providing fighter jets. Germany would not have the key role in aircraft deliveries that it did with the Leopards, which are German-made and require German export approval.

Scholz, who is on a trip to South America, said he regretted the emergence of the fighter jet discussion.

He said in Chile on Sunday that a serious debate is necessary and not a “competition to outdo each other ... in which perhaps domestic political motives are in the foreground rather than support for Ukraine.”

Military analysts say more aid for Ukraine is crucial if Kyiv is to block an expected Russian offensive in the spring and launch its own effort to push back Russian forces.

“The pattern of delivery of Western aid has powerfully shaped the pattern of this conflict,” the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.based think tank, said late Sunday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Sunday that keeping up the pace of allies’ support is crucial.

“The speed of supply has been and will be one of the key factors in this war. Russia hopes to drag out the war, to exhaust our forces. So we have to make time our weapon,” he said in his nightly video address.

With the war approaching its one-year mark and draining resources on both sides, the Western call for weapons for Kyiv is spreading beyond the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The alliance’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, on Monday called for South Korea to send direct military support to Ukraine too. South Korea is a growing arms exporter and has a well-equipped, U.S.-backed military.

France and Australia announced Monday plans to jointly produce and send several thousand 155-millimeter artillery shells to Ukraine.

The British Ministry of Defense noted Monday that the Kremlin never formally rescinded its order in September for a partial mobilization of reservists that boosted troop numbers for combat in Ukraine. It said Russia may be keeping the door open for further callups.

Heavy fighting continued to rage around Bakhmut and Vuhledar, with regional Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko saying that 15 towns and villages in the region came under shelling Sunday.

Ukrainian authorities said the southern city of Kherson also has come under Russian shelling. The bombardment damaged residential buildings, a hospital, a school, a bus station, a bank and a post office.